User participation - a closed dialogue

The arguments presented in this article centre on attempts to Jorge architectures that are appropriate to the new South Africa. These efforts are rooted in our long-held, modernist commitment to architectures that do more than simply reflect the societies in which they are produced. Buildings, for us, are not merely images of what is, of how we live at the moment. On the contrary, we hold that, via its material presence as embodied human action, architecture can and does speak of what might be and of how we might live. Appropriate architectures for the new South Africa must, then, help to shape and educate people's desires. This, of course, is much more than just a matter of form and style. In the nineteenth century, engineers and architects were called on to accommodate new social relationships in the new building types they designed: factories, railway stations, public libraries and so on. In the same way South African designers in the 1990s are being challenged to apply their knowledge and skills to the new spatial demands of their burgeoning democratic society. In confronting these expectations, architects have to work closely with the users of the buildings they design; that is, the community. In short, the new spatial forms which architects propose need to embody the participatory processes which will produce them.